The United Nations has been intimately involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict longer and in a more operational sense than in any other conflict. The Israeli-Palestinian case study is unique because contrary to other UN missions the structure of agencies in the region is a product of geographical layering of UN intereventions in the Middle East since the 1940s onwards. Dr. Liora Sion of Tel Aviv, Israel, analyzes how after the failure of the Oslo Accord the UN mission in the occupied Palestinian territories shifted from building a failed state to helping the Palestinians to survive.

Liora Sion has her Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam and the Free University. She was a post doc fellow at Olin Institute, Harvard University, and Northwestern University, and an assistant professor at University of Nottingham. Currently she is writing a book about UN work and workers in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, specializing in military, security, ethnicity, and gender.

Co-sponsored by the University's Human Rights Program, Center for Jewish Studies, and the Sociology Department.